


A Perfectly Normal Day (of the Departed)

by Little_Spirit199



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: 1 chapter per episode, AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It of Sorts, Ghosts, Human Legos, Legos, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Character Death, What if Cole was still a ghost? (Ninjago), medium-slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27069520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Spirit199/pseuds/Little_Spirit199
Summary: Day of the Departed went by normally, and they all went on with their lives. Or with their deaths. One night of peace, but something was bound to come and try and kill them eventually. It always did.Lucky for Cole, he was already dead.
Relationships: Cole/Jay Walker, Kai/Skylor (Ninjago), P.I.X.A.L./Zane (Ninjago)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. Day of the Departed

"Can't have Day of the Departed without the lanterns!" Jay cheered. "Well, thanks for hanging out, you guys. I'm going to go meet my mom and dad now, that ok? Happy Day of the Departed!"

"Yeah, we'd better get going too, right Nya?" Kai asked, swiveling to face his sister. She nodded and hopped onto her motorbike after checking the time on her phone.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow, bye!" She started the engine and drove off, Kai following closely behind. Cole waved, but he wasn't sure if any of them could see him. Zane had left only minutes before, so it was just him and Lloyd left. They started back to the Bounty, Lloyd walking, and Cole lazily floating an inch or so above the ground.

"Are you going to see your dad?" Lloyd asked after a moment of silence. Cole shrugged, then shook his head.

"No. He's got a show tonight, so there won't be time."

"Oh. Sorry about that." 

"Nah, it's fine." Neither of them said a word after that until they reached the Destiny's bounty. Sensei Wu greeted them warmly, and Lloyd joined his mother outside, in the Corridor of Elders. "Looks as if it's just you and I tonight, Cole." Sensei said, turning to him. Cole nodded. "

You've got that right. You want to play checkers or something?" Cole asked, trying to shake off the sting he still felt about his own father refusing to see him. Sensei studied his transparent face and seemed to read the unsaid message hidden in those words.

"That would be lovely, Cole."

__________

 _It's pretty funny, really. Drinking olive oil like that's a perfectly normal thing to do._ Cole couldn't exactly have water, so while Sensei got himself a tall glass of ice water, he gave Cole a coffee mug filled to the brim with olive oil. Cole had gotten used to the taste over time, but when he first tried it, it was the most disgusting thing in Ninjago. It was more just a formality, however. He didn't really need food or drinks, but it was nice to have something that tied him to the rest of the people around him. It felt like every other tie was being severed the longer this ghost thing went on. Sensei brought out the old, battered checkerboard that they were all so attached too and placed it down on the polished little tea table.

"Alright, Cole, would you like to be red or black?" He asked as he started lining the pieces up.

"Black, of course," Cole broke a little smile himself. "Happy Day of the departed, Sensei Wu." 

_I wonder, if I'm a ghost, do I technically count as departed?_ He never got an answer to that question, however, but he wondered if he really wanted to know. If they said yes, he was departed, that would be depressing. If they said no, it would feel like they were just trying to make him feel better about these circumstances that he had no control over. These were the kinds of things he could never say out loud because it would sound gloomy whiny or something. 

Cole completely crushed Sensei Wu at checkers. Then they took out chess and it was the other way around. Lloyd and Misako returned a few hours later, and Zane followed several minutes later. By that time, they found Sensei Wu and Cole having a (mostly) friendly argument about the castling technique. They joined in, each taking a side, but Misako acting as the moderator to keep things from getting too heated. Eventually they decided on having a chess tournament to finish off the Day of the Departed. Lloyd lost to Cole, then Sensei lost to Zane, and Zane won the whole thing overall. No one was surprised in the least, but they all had a lot of fun, and everyone was grinning by the time they got in bed much later than they should. 

The three ninja stayed up chatting and giggling even later than that, but by the time the rest of their friends returned early the next morning, only Lloyd showed any signs of fatigue. They came bearing interesting news. "Did you guys hear that Yang completely disappeared from the Temple of Airjitzu?" Kai asked excitedly. "All those creepy students too."


	2. The Hands of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a general note so I can clarify, Jay and Nya are not in a relationship and they never were in this version of canon. Nya and Cole also never had anything going on. They've all three got more of a super close friends type of dynamic.

"Ugh, why do we have to set up this new museum stuff? This is so lame. Cole, you're so lucky that you don't have to help." Jay pouted, giving him a jealous look.  
"Come on Jay, we should help our community," Lloyd scolded as he walked passed them into the next room  
"Ha, ha," Cole smirked, just a little, and ran his hand through a nearby crate. "Such a tragedy. Loss of my physical body has affected us all, has it not?"  
"That's bull. You're just lazy."  
"Maybe, but you can't prove that. Anyway, how do you think everyone's doing unloading at the Temple of Airjitzu?"  
"You're evil. Stop changing the subject. " Jay said, right before he slipped into the front room to set up the new exhibit. Right before leaving, he turned around and looked at Cole. "Come on, then," Cole looked slightly startled, but it quickly melted into a smile.  
Out in the main room of the museum, Jay nearly ran Kai over, if he didn't stop in time. "Oh! Sorry, Kai,"  
"It's fine. Come check out what Nya and I found. Where's Cole?" He glanced around, but found nothing.  
"I'm right here, Kai," He said, tired. He was used to going unnoticed, more and more often lately, but it could be irritating at times.  
"Oh, sorry!" Kai bit his lip. What are you supposed to say when you look right through your friend? "Uh, come look you guys, we found something you might want to see. It's a portrait of our parents." They followed him into a back exhibit, and Cole noticed a big painting of a battle.  
"Hey, isn't that Wu and Garmadon?" The others joined him.  
"Yeah, that's your dad, Lloyd." Kai smiled over at him.  
"Huh, first Kai and Nya, now Lloyd. It's family picture day at the museum!" Jay cheered. Zane stepped forward and examined the painting.  
"P.I.X.A.L, analyze."  
"Facial contour mapping indicates that this took place forty years ago, during the Serpentine wars."  
"The Serpentine wars?" Cole asked. "But Ninjago was at peace. Who were they fighting?" But he never got his answer, because the director of the museum, Dr. Saunders walked in, cheerfully calling to them.  
"Refreshment time! Hot, sweaty work deserves a drink." They all grabbed a cup off his tray in a chorus of thanks. "Enjoy the pickled beet tea!" Cole watched in dismay as the rest of his friends spluttered and coughed the drink out.  
"Oops!" He exclaimed as he dropped the cup to the tile beneath his feet. "Ghost hands, you know? I'm sooo clumsy." Jay just shrugged and slurped his down. Lloyd tapped Dr. Saunders on the shoulder.  
"We were wondering about this painting here," He asked. "Can you tell us about it?"  
"Oh, minor skirmish. No historical significance," He waved them off. "That's why we keep it back here, away from the main museum."  
"Really?" Jay glanced at Cole, who shrugged. "It's huge!"  
"A huge myth. Folklore." Dr. Saunders insisted.  
"Well who are these men Masters Wu and Garmadon are supposed to be fighting?" Zane asked. "I have no data on them."  
"A legend. Twin brothers called the Hands of Time. They could supposedly manipulate time, speed it up, slow it down, all sorts of things."  
"What are their names?" Lloyd asked curiously.  
"This handsome looking fellow is called Crux. As for the other one, he was known as Acronix."  
Nya checked her watch and waved to the rest of her team. "Guys, it's six o'clock! Time to leave" They started walking away from the museum and Lloyd called,  
"Thanks for the stories Dr. Saunders!"

They all sprinted out the door, but in a puff of smoke appeared in the cockpit of the Destiny's Bounty.  
"What happened? Time..."  
"Moved forward? Something's definitely going on."  
"Weren't we just outside?" Col asked nervously. Nya and Zane rushed over to the monitors.  
"These energy readings are off the charts!" Zane scanned the readings and scratched his chin.  
"I think I know how we ended up on the Destiny's Bounty. The displacement we experienced was caused by temporal energy."  
"Oh, temporal energy," Jay said, glancing around. "Everyone knows that's... powerful."  
"It means time, Jay." Cole told him, resisting the urge to playfully swat him in the shoulder because he already knew it wouldn't work. They all turned towards P.I.X.A.L, who was telling them that the epicenter of the energy was the old monastery.  
"But it burned down. Why would anyone go up there?" Cole asked. He tried to lean against a wall, but he nearly fell through it. His control over that was deteriorating the longer he was a ghost. He didn't know how it happened, but they ended up hovering above the monastery. He must've blacked out or something. Jay was down on the ground talking to someone that hadn't seen before. He pulled out his nunchucks and the rest of the ninja stood at alert. 

The two men started brawling, and Cole vaulted over the edge of the bounty without another thought. "Try and dodge this!" He focused hard on solidifying his left hand and smashed into the stone of the monastery. The others joined after him, battling this mystery man, that P.I.X.A.L informed then was none other than Acronix, but they could never land a single hit. Kai managed to catch the monastery on fire for like the third time, but still they couldn't catch the warrior. After a while of this, he disappeared and the ninja found themselves piled on top of each other.  
"Where did he go?!" Lloyd gasped.  
"And where is Master Wu?" Nya shouted. They all jolted upright and ran around the ruined monastery. Cole saw him hanging by a thread from a broken branch and reached forward to grab him, but he passed right through his fingers.  
"MASTER WU!" He shouted helplessly as he watched him fall to the ground, building speed. The others joined him at the edge of the floating island, trying anything they could think of to catch him. After awhile, Jay sprinted down the stairway faster than he'd ever moved before, reaching the ground and searching through the brush. Hoping and hoping that Wu was still alive. He cleared through a thick section of trees and found the last thing he wanted to see. 

His mind was blank, and he didn't notice when the rest of the team ran up to him and kept asking what was wrong. It didn't take them long to figure it out though, for they all went quiet when they saw the broken body of Master Wu, lying in the grass, every limb bent at an uncomfortable angle.


	3. The Hatching

"Doctor, is he going to be alright?" Lloyd asked, desperately hoping for something, anything to be alright. After finding their Sensei laying in the grass, the ninja had stood shocked for several seconds, until Zane had the sense to call an ambulance. They were all in denial. Wu was taken to the nearest hospital, but they proclaimed him dead on impact. There was only one thought running through everyone's heads.

 _This is my fault_ , Lloyd thought. _I shouldn't have let him go alone_

 _This is my fault,_ Kai thought. _If I hadn't caught it on fire, the structure would be stronger._

 _This is my fault,_ Nya thought. _I should have landed the Bounty sooner._

 _This is my fault,_ Zane thought. _I should have had the sense to look for him before fighting._

 _This is my fault,_ Jay thought. _If I wasn't so whiny, we would've arrived sooner._

 _This is completely my fault,_ Cole thought. _I can't believe I couldn't grab his hand. He would have been safe! If only I wasn't like this. What is wrong with me?_

"Is he alive!" Misako choked out when she darted into the hospital's waiting room. Her hair was a mess, and her shoes were mismatched.   
"Mom!" Lloyd gasped, momentarily forgetting why they were all there. She pulled him into a fierce hug and they both started crying. "Mom." Lloyd whimpered. "Mom..." Nya burst into tears. Kai clapped both hands over his mouth and Jay couldn't stop his whole body from shaking. The hospital staff tried their best to comfort them, but nothing could work. 

_This is my fault_

_This is my fault_

_This is my fault_

_This is my fault_

_This is my fault_

_This is my fault_

They didn't remember one second of the drive back to the Temple of Airjitzu, even Kai, who was the one driving. 

When they finally reached the Temple, every inch of it was overrun with snake samurai.


	4. A Time of Traitors

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!" Kai roared."CAN YOU PLEASE LEAVE US THE F**K ALONE FOR MORE THAN FIVE SECONDS?" He had dropped his katana days ago, in favor of a semi-automatic machine gun. He let another round of bullets through the window of the Airjitzu Temple, screaming at the top of his lungs and sending several soldiers to their dooms at the bottom of the floating island.

For days, they'd been fighting off the twisted snake fighters that kept attacking their temple in waves. They'd all been knocked back fairly easily, but they wouldn't stop coming and coming. Everyone, even Misako, had taken a turn shooting them, and they each hated to admit that they felt a sick sense of satisfaction destroying the nameless, faceless goons. These slimy snakes were correlated with the person that led to Master Wu's death, so they needed to be obliterated. It was that simple, and no one wanted to think about it further than that.

They hadn't even been able to hold a funeral yet, because they were all pretty much under house arrest. If they tried to leave, they were bombed by a horde of the things that they had barely escaped the few times they tried. Cole had taken to turning invisible and wandering aimlessly around the halls of the temple. Jay hadn't been seen a single time in the past week without red and extremely puffy eyes. Zane had somehow lost all communications with P.I.X.A.L.

Jay ordered Chinese food for himself and retreated up to his bedroom. (Family dinners were a thing of the past; everyone was left to fend for themselves when it came to food). He'd lost almost seven pounds in a week and legitimately didn't know how. His room was an enormous mess and he hadn't even attempted to straighten up. He plopped down on the bed and opened up the box from Chen's Noodle House.  
"When was the last time you slept?" He heard someone say from behind him. He could tell that it was Cole, but he didn't turn around.  
"When was the last time you slept?" He retaliated, but Cole wasn't phased.  
"I don't need sleep. You do. So?"  
"Fine," He relented. "I haven't slept since it happened. How could I? It's impossible. Hey, are you hungry?" He didn't want to ruin his friendships, especially during such a tough time for all of them.  
"I'm never hungry," Cole said flatly. "But I guess I could eat." Without another word, Jay handed him a pair of chopsticks and a box of rice. They ate in silence, neither of them able to think of anything to say that wasn't grim and gruesome. Finally, Jay gulped down his last bite and dared to ask that question that he thought was hanging over the whole room.  
"Do you blame me? Does everyone else blame me?" Tears started streaming down his face again at the thought that he would never be able to say goodbye. He thought he knew the answer, but he was never more wrong.  
"Are you kidding? This whole thing is my fault." Cole leaned forward and stared Jay straight in the face.  
"Cole! You're... visible?" He hadn't expected that. Cole hadn't been physically seen at all the last week, although he had spoken to people.  
"Yes, because this is important. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. It's mine. If I wasn't a stupid ghost then Sensei would still be here. Don't you dare blame yourself." His glare was steel. Jay stopped, his mouth falling open into a perfect little o. He was about to say something to try and comfort Cole, but he sunk through the floor before he got that chance.  
"Wait, Cole!" He called. "Come back!" It was pointless. Jay felt his eyelids drooping, and realized for the first time that maybe going a week without sleep wasn't healthy. He didn't want to fall asleep, but he could tell that he would soon, his body was shutting down of its own accord. Right before he was out cold, he grabbed a notebook and pen, writing down a message to himself in the future. 

"Tell Cole that this whole thing isn't his fault. He couldn't possibly have prevented Yang's actions."


	5. Scavengers

"How are you doing? You look a little faded." Nya asked. She tried to smile, but it came out more like a pained grimace.  
"I'm not alright, Nya," He told her, dismayed. "I am faded. I can feel myself slipping away. I wish I had an off switch like Zane." He sighed

After several days, the depressed atmosphere seemed to be too much for Zane. One day he informed them that he was participating in an unhealthy coping technique and flipped the switch on the back of his head. They tried to turn him back on, but nothing was working. The endless hordes of snakes finally slowed down a little, and now the three of them were visiting Nya's Samurai X cave, where there was far more sophisticated tech, to try and fix him up there. Nya said she wanted Cole along because he could grab tools and everything from other rooms much quicker than anyone else. The sky was cloudy and gray, which matched the mood perfectly.

Nya pulled her motorcycle into the cave's garage and climbed out, pulling Zane's limp body on a wheeled cart. Cole followed after them, hovering above the rocky floor. He startled backwards and clenched his hands to his hands tightly at his sides when the rain came pouring down only seconds after they were under the safety of the cave's roof. His breath was shaky and echoed across the walls, but he forced himself to relax and be rational. Nya turned around and saw his terror, but notably, made no comment.  
"Here, let's get started. Can you grab me the drill and the drill bits from in there?" She pointed down the rough hallway and he nodded.  
"Yeah, uh, right." He had to remind himself that he was safe, nothing was going to happen. The rain wouldn't get in. Even after he repeated that same thing over to himself, there was still an underlying sense of dread as he watched Nya preform the maintenance and repairs on Zane. Thunder crashed in the background. Hours passed, and the sky grew dark, but the rain didn't stop and Zane still didn't wake up.

"I don't think this is working," Nya said with a yawn. "What time is it anyway?" She pulled out her phone. "Hmm, four in the morning." She looked at Zane lying immobilized on the table, then at the rain still pouring down out side and finally at Cole curled up in farthest corner from the door. She knew that this plan had backfired on all of them, so she swiped it open and called Kai. She knew it was a long shot so early in the morning, but to her surprise, he picked up on the second ring.

"Nya? What's up?" His voice came out mechanical and tinny through the speaker.  
"Hey, bro. I don't think this is going to work. Zane's not waking up, and this rain doesn't look like it'll let up any time soon. We'll probably have to stay her for a few nights, or at least Cole will." She inwardly cringed at those words.  
"Yeah, we figured something like that would happen. Don't worry about it, just be safe. Hey, I found some old armor and no one knows what it is. I think I might go talk to Dr. Saunders about it, so if I don't pick up later, that's why." Nya nodded, not surprised that her brother would be fixated on something small like armor. That was how he got when their parents went missing, focused on details and ignoring the big picture, the most important thing. The fact that they were abandoned when Nya was just six years old and Kai was nine. It was not ok, but for months, Kai acted like it was completely normal.  
"Mkay. I'll call Lloyd when we start heading back," She sighed and hung up. "Sorry, Cole, looks like we're stuck here for a while." He lifted his head from his tucked up knees and Nya couldn't help but compare him to how a little kid would probably look if they watched a horror movie.  
"It's fine, I'm fine," He coughed out, although Nya knew that wasn't true. Cole didn't want to be a burden, and he really did want to make sure Zane was alright, so he suggested this. "Hey, how about you take Zane back to the Temple of Airjitzu. Talk it over with Jay and P.I.X.A.L, try to find out just what's wrong with him. I'll stay here until the rain stops." It was really hard to say those sentences, but now he was fully committed to the idea. Nya examined his face closer.  
"You sure you'll be alright?"  
"I'll be fine, please just do what you need to do." He reassured her. "I'll stay right here, it's not like I have much of a choice."

So it was decided. Cole helped Nya load up all the equipment she might need, and she headed off, looking back once before she was completely drenched within seconds. She didn't bother drying herself off when she reached the Temple of Airzitzu.

Miles away at the Ninjago Museum, Kai and Crux were fiercely battling, each waiting to tire the other out.


	6. A Line in the Sand

Cole hated having no idea what was going on. The rain wouldn't stop pouring, the worst rainstorm he'd ever seen. Nya had left him her phone in case he needed to contact them, but he hadn't been able to even touch it yet. He tried again, sticking his hand straight through the screen.

 _Ugh! Focus, Cole, focus!_ He tried drawing every fiber of his being into his left hand. _Think, come on! What if they're all in trouble?_ He grabbed it by the tip of his fingers and his eyes widened at his success. He didn't know how long this lucky streak would last, so he called the Temple of Airjitzu.

"Hello?" A voice answered.

"Misako! It's Cole. Where are the others?"

"They're at the amusement park. Jay went to his parent's place. Look, stay where you are, Cole. We can't risk you dissolving." Cole gritted his teeth. Being a ghost was about the suckiest thing that had ever happened. 

"I'm so damn useless!" He hung up without waiting for an answer and slammed the phone back down, although he was careful not to break it. Nya would probably kill him if that happened. Wait... 

"I don't think you're useless," Someone said from behind. Cole turned slowly. He already knew it was Jay because of the voice, but why was he here? Jay smiled and waved a little. "Really, don't say stuff like that." 

"What do you mean? Also you're soaked. Also, I thought you were with your parents." Cole sat cross legged, hovering a few inches above the table.  
At one point, having someone sneak up on him super late at night during a thunderstorm been scary, or at least unsettling, but fear seemed muted. It was strange, but bearable. Jay wrung the water out of his hair and sat across from Cole. 

"Well, I was at my parents, but I found this thing," He flung out an enormous metal claw. "It's a lot like that one from before."  
"It looks dangerous." Cole sighed. "What should we do?" Jay glanced towards the door at the dark landscape.  
"I guess I'll hang out with you until the rain stops. It's better than being stuck out there." Jay nodded towards the window and shifted his shoulders around. Cole bit his lip and couldn't help but ask.

"Hey Jay? Did you really mean it about me not being useless?"

"Of course!" Jay responded. "Don't be all mopey. You can turn invisible, and that's really cool, you can go through walls, and spy on people. I honestly think it's awesome. Sure, some aspects of it kinda suck, but, hmm.." He thought of a way to frame his thoughts. "Think of it like this: You bring a bunch of new skills to the team that would be impossible to have any other way. No one thinks you're useless." Cole's eyes widened.

"Wow, that was surprisingly... intuitive, Jay." He chuckled, seeing Jay's pseudo-shocked expression.

"You tryin' to say I'm not intuitive most of the time?"

"I'm not trying to say it, I just did."

"Hmph." Jay slumped over, but then checked the weather on Nya's phone. "Geez, this rain is not going to let up for awhile. Looks like we're stuck here."

"You could leave. The guys might need your help." Cole suggested. Jay just shrugged.

"Nah, they'll be able to handle themselves. Do you ever get tired of fighting all the time? I sort of just wish I could do normal stuff, like normal teenagers do."

"Nothing about us is normal." Cole sighed. "I know what you mean, though. He lifted his hand up to his face and concentrated. _Please hand, go solid for me. Just this once?_

His hand flickered, and he was going to give up, but then, amazingly, it stayed solid. Despite the situation, he beamed. Then stroked the side of Jay’s face. Jay shot upwards, surprised. “Cole! I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Neither did I,” Cole was astonished by himself. “I’m glad I can though. You needed someone to comfort you.”

Jay smiled sadly, and a tear streaked down his cheek. “Thanks, Cole. You’re awesome.”


End file.
